Abstract
BackgroundEmerging research suggests that a single bout of aerobic exercise can improve cognition, brain function and psychological health. Our aim was to examine the effects of high-intensity exercise on cognitive-performance and brain measures of attention, inhibition and performance-monitoring across a test-battery of three cognitive tasks. MethodUsing a randomised cross-over design, 29 young men completed three successive cognitive tasks (Cued Continuous Performance Task [CPT-OX]; Eriksen Flanker Task; four-choice reaction-time task [Fast Task]) with simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) recording before and after a 20-min high-intensity cycling exercise and resting control session. Cognitive-performance measures, EEG power and event-related potential measures, were obtained during the tasks. Random-intercept linear models were used to investigate the effects of exercise, compared to rest, on outcomes. ResultsA single bout of exercise significantly (p < 0.05) increased the amplitude of the event-related potential Go P3, but had no effect on the contingent negative variation (CNV), Cue P3 or NoGo P3, during the CPT-OX. Delta power, recorded during the CPT-OX, also significantly increased after exercise, whereas there was no effect on cognitive-performance in this task. Exercise did not influence any cognitive-performance or brain measures in the subsequent Flanker or Fast Tasks. ConclusionAcute high-intensity exercise improves brain-indices reflecting executive and sustained attention during task performance (Go P3 and delta activity), in the CPT-OX, but not anticipatory attention (Cue P3 and CNV) or response inhibition (NoGo P3) in young-adult men. Exercise had no effect on cognitive-performance or brain measures in the subsequent Flanker and Fast tasks, which may potentially be explained by the time delay after exercise.
Highlights
Emerging evidence suggests that physical exercise can enhance cognition, brain function and psychological health [1,2,3]
We aimed to investigate the effects of a single bout of high-intensity aerobic cycling exercise on a range of performance and EEG measures implicated in attention, inhibition and performance-monitoring, in a population sample of young adult men
Our findings suggest that acute high-intensity exercise improves executive attention, indexed by Go P3 amplitude in the Go/NoGo paradigm of the cued continuous performance task (CPT-OX), which relates to increased attention to the task as you respond to the target stimuli
Summary
Emerging evidence suggests that physical exercise can enhance cognition, brain function and psychological health [1,2,3]. Of acute (short-lived) exercise sessions of 20 min or more in duration, have been reported in experimental studies on a range of cognitive performance measures, with greatest effects following a delay after exercise cessation [3] These measures include inhibition and interference control (Effect size; ES = 0.25–0.46) [2,3], attention (ES = 0.42) [2], mean reaction time (MRT) (ES = 0.30–1.41) [5,6] and short-term memory (ES = 0.26) [7]. Conclusion: Acute high-intensity exercise improves brain-indices reflecting executive and sustained attention during task performance (Go P3 and delta activity), in the CPT-OX, but not anticipatory attention (Cue P3 and CNV) or response inhibition (NoGo P3) in young-adult men. Exercise had no effect on cognitive-performance or brain measures in the subsequent Flanker and Fast tasks, which may potentially be explained by the time delay after exercise
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